Disney now owns all of your childhood memories.

On Tuesday afternoon, the Walt Disney Company announced in a press release shortly before its investor call that it would acquire 100 percent of LucasFilm LTD for $4.05 billion, in cash and stock. In the press release, Disney also said it would invest in a new film, Star Wars Episode 7, which would be released in 2015, "with more feature films expected to continue the Star Wars saga and grow the franchise well into the future."

Disney will surely find many other ways to cash in on the beloved trilogy (and the less-beloved but still respected trilogy of prequels). "We also expect to utilize Star Wars in other businesses including Parks & Resorts, in games and in our television business. These initiatives were also considered in our valuation," Disney's press release said.

Disney's acquisition includes all the ventures of LucasFilm LTD, including the special effects powerhouse Industrial Light and Magic, as well as LucasArts and Skywalker Sound. "The present intent is for LucasFilm employees to remain in their current locations," Disney said.

"For the past 35 years, one of my greatest pleasures has been to see Star Wars passed from one generation to the next," George Lucas was quoted in Disney's press release. "It's now time for me to pass Star Wars on to a new generation of filmmakers. I've always believed that Star Wars could live beyond me, and I thought it was important to set up the transition during my lifetime."

During the Walt Disney conference call about the acquisition, the company said, "we plan to release one film every two to three years," after the seventh episode in 2015. It also said that while the Star Wars franchise is currently skewed toward "toys and North America," Disney plans to increase the "breadth and depth" of that appeal.

When asked during the conference call about how realistic the next Star Wars movies are, Robert Iger, Chairman and CEO of Disney said, "What we're buying along with the overall company... is a pretty expensive treatment for the first three movies," which would be considered episodes 7-9 of the franchise. "We're in the early stages of creating the first movie."

One reporter asked about the many games created by LucasArts, specifically social gaming, but Disney was vague about that answer: "We're likely to focus on social and mobile more than console. We'll look at console opportunistically."

"We didn't ascribe any value to the Indiana Jones franchise as part of this acquisition," Iger said later on in the call, suggesting no further installments of that franchise is on the horizon.

NOT DISNEY! Dreamworks I could have handled, but NOT DISNEY! granted, better than Lucas himself doing nothing with the property, especially with some GREAT books that came out (that Disney's going to have a fun time negotiating rights for seperately), but I could name 10 major houses I'de rather have seen end up owning Lucas Sound, ILM, etc other than Disney.

So George craps all over everyone's childhood by defiling his own work and then sells out to a company that is sure to continue and/or escalate the defilement. I gotta say, did not see that coming. Touche, mister Lucas.

At first, I thought "great, now they're going to cash cow the heck out of the franchise".

But then I thought "Wait, George Lucas already did this." Then I thought "This is Disney, I wonder if episode 7 would be even worse than 1-3?" But then I remembered that they did Tron: Legacy, lately, and I actually enjoyed that film. And I also liked Pirates of the Carribean.

Then I realized that there were rumors of episodes 7-9 since at least the "Special Edition" remaster of the original trilogy in the 90s, and the story canon does continue after Return of the Jedi, plus all the unfulfilled (in the movies) plot points alluded to in episodes 4-6.

I'm very confused as to whether I should be excited, disgusted, or ambivalent.

This is one of a few news articles in a very long time where I read the headline, went "huh?," read it again, checked the calendar to see if it was April Fool's, and followed up with a Google search. Now that I believe the headline, all I can say is WOW.

This is one of a few news articles in a very long time where I read the headline, went "huh?," read it again, checked the calendar to see if it was April Fool's, and followed up with a Google search. Now that I believe the headline, I can say is WOW.

I didnt follow it up with a google search but this is exactly what i did.

This is one of a few news articles in a very long time where I read the headline, went "huh?," read it again, checked the calendar to see if it was April Fool's, and followed up with a Google search. Now that I believe the headline, I can say is WOW.

While somewhat sad to see the torch being passed, who else would pick that mantle up with the knowledge and horsepower to build on it? Dreamworks? Please....with the enormity of the Star Wars property, a studio wouldn't know what to do with the merchandising and other avenues.

With the ever growing presence of Star Wars at Disney World, the choice isn't even remotely surprising. Who else could *actually* say they've got the knowledge to take Lucas's life's work and curate it to his satisfaction?

Wow... didn't see that one coming. I don't see this as a move for the better honestly.

Because Lucas is a terrible individual, who makes poor decisions unilaterally.

The original trilogy is a great example; as a corporation, Disney will almost certainly move to capitalize on the market that exists for a re-release on Blu-Ray of the theatrical editions. It's no longer one idiot with more beard than sense holding that back.

Same will go for any future Star Wars projects...sure, there's the possibility that attempts to monetize the IP will lead to crappy content. But it might lead to good content too. As we've seen, whatever ideological purity Lucas brought to the table certainly wasn't looking, so I don't see how chasing cold hard cash will produce worse results.

Marvel and Pixar are allowed to run pretty much on their own, but with the money of The Mouse behind them, right? If LucasFilm gets the same treatment, along with a new generation of creative control, this could turn out to be good. What's really big in my mind, though, is that Disney's now got Pixar and ILM, arguably the two most important companies in CG. But while Pixar only does stuff for Disney, ILM traditionally does stuff for whomever, so it may be interesting to see if that changes any.

While somewhat sad to see the torch being passed. Who else would pick that mantle up with the knowledge and horsepower to build on it? Dreamworks? Please....with the enormity of the Star Wars property, a studio wouldn't know what to do with it.

With the ever growing presence of Star Wars at Disney World, the choice isn't even remotely surprising.

while the news makes you jump a bit, i agree with you. it just makes sense.